here come the drums
by gallifrey calls now
Summary: Kurt Hummel has had the fobwatch since he was born. He's never actually opened it. But one day, the drums tell him to.


Kurt has had the fobwatch since he was a child. When Burt and Elizabeth Hummel stumbled upon him whilst searching through the orphanage trying to find the perfect adoptive son for them they had instantly fallen in love with the star-like shine of his eyes. The woman who gave them the adoption papers had also given them the old golden fobwatch and had told them that young Kurt was found with it.

Elizabeth took Kurt in her arms, and smiled.

Kurt smiled back.

X

Elizabeth died when Kurt was eight, leaving him in the care of Burt.

Burt, if anything, was honest. As soon as he considered Kurt old enough, he broke the news and told him: "you're adopted."

Kurt didn't cry. He had had a hunch.

X

Dum dum dum dum.

Dum dum dum dum.

Dum dum dum dum.

Dum dum dum dum.

Dum dum dum –

Kurt's eyes opened as he heaved, sweat rolling down his back. The last drum echoed in his mind.

He was thirteen.

X

He had dreams of planets and aliens and crinkled eyes, and Theta and Koschei _so happy-_

He had nightmares of Daleks, and tall people in blood-red robes, locking him up, and _Rassilon that hurt._

Each morning he woke up, donned his most fashionable clothes and went to school.

Life moved on.

X

Burt gave Kurt the fobwatch as a present for his fifteenth birthday.

"It's the only thing we have from your biological parents, bud."

Kurt stared at the watch for a long second, brushed his thumb over it and smiled.

He placed it on his nightstand, and ever since he took at least five minutes to appreciate its beauty.

X

That year he signed up for Glee club. Kurt was happy, because he finally belonged somewhere. Rachel was nice, if rather self-centered. Finn was a rather big, lovable idiot. Tina was shy but an amazing friend. Artie was alright, if a bit sexist. And Mercedes? Mercedes was amazing.

She was the first person Kurt told not only that he was gay, but that he was adopted as well.

She hugged him and asked him if he wanted to go to the mall.

X

In junior year, Kurt almost broke Karofsky's wrist. He didn't know where the power was coming from. Karofsky had shoved him into the lockers and got into his face, and Kurt felt a white-hot stab of rage. He grabbed Karofsky's wrist and tightened his grip with almost inhuman strength. He didn't know what he was thinking. He just heard the drumming and the unending urge to kill the bulkier boy, to see his blood stain the white of the tiles on the floor -

Then Karofsky whimpered and Kurt was suddenly aware of the people staring at them in the halls. He dropped Karofsky's wrist like it had burned him, shouldered his bag and walked away feeling everyone's eyes on his back.

No one bothered him afterwards.

Some people said his eyes flashed golden. Mercedes dismissed it as lies and proceeded by congratulating him for defeating the bullies. Puck patted him on the back. Quinn smiled at him a little wider. Santana seemed to be a bit proud.

Kurt didn't know what to think. On one hand, he did want to believe he was as normal as possible. On the other hand, believing that his eyes had flashed golden made some part of his subconscious grin.

X

High school was soon over. He went to college and ignored all of his childhood dreams of going on Broadway in favor of becoming a professor. He taught Biology.

Kurt didn't have time for relationships. He loved what he was doing. Why ruin it by forming emotional bonds that wouldn't last?

Burt worried about him. Finn kept bringing Rachel home, the possibility of him marrying her high. Kurt, on the other hand, never brought someone home, never talked about anyone.

Not even in highschool.

Of course Burt worried.

X

Kurt's career as a Professor flourished and in his thirties he moved to the UK. He worked as a professor at the University of Cambridge School of Biological Sciences.

Soon enough, he lost contact with his family. The only thing he had left was the old fobwatch. Kurt carried it with him, safely tucked in whatever vest or blazer he was wearing.

X

On a bright Saturday morning, Kurt woke up at around half past seven in the morning, donned a pair of jeans, a white shirt and and a simple vest. The fobwatch's chain hung from the pocket in a perfect semicircle. He got out of his apartment and walked a bit, stopping to a coffee shop to pick up his daily fix.

Holding the styrofoam cup, he went to take a walk in the park, boots clinking on the gravel. Kurt walked, thinking of the dreams and of the drums which got louder and louder with each passing second.

Kurt hated them.

The breeze picked up, ruffling his hair and making him shiver slightly.

The sound of metal scraping metal filled the air, and Kurt stopped in his tracks, looking around.

There was a tall, blue, wooden police box there that hadn't been a second before.

Kurt blinked. Out of sheer instinct, he dived behind a trash can, peeking carefully as three people exited the box in a casual manner.

A dark-skinned woman with her hair up in a ponytail.

A brunette man whose clothes looked picked out of the second world war.

And a tall, skinny man dressed in a long trenchcoat and a dark blue suit.

The Drums went mad. Kurt clutched at his head and gritted his teeth.

Second by second, the three walked closer to his hiding spot, making him able to hear what they were talking.

"She looked into the Time Vortex and destroyed the Daleks. She said that she could give life -"

"So she gave life to me."

"Yes. Permanently."

"Where is she now?"

"In a parallel univ-"

By then, they were too far away.

Kurt was staring into the distance, the words replaying in his mind over and over again.

_Time Vortex._

He was familiar with that phrase. He'd heard it before, he was so certain too – but where? When? Kurt had never been remarkably interested in physics, but then again, he had never actually had any problems in understanding them. Just like maths, or any other sciences, come to think of it.

_Daleks._

Oh, Kurt remembered them. A shiver coursed through his body as he remembered the dreams of his childhood, the dreams of the tall, metal beings with unpenetrable shields metallic voices that shouted "EXTERMINATE" at the sight of any other race.

The Daleks had had something with the men in red robes. He was sure of that.

Kurt didn't know what to think. He truly didn't. When the three were at such a distance that they would not be able to see him, Kurt stood up and walked as calmly as he could to the blue box, long fingers curling around the doorknob.

It should be locked, by all means.

Kurt pulled.

It wasn't.

Kurt pulled the door open and entered, closing it carefully behind him. Then he turned around, and gaped, staring at the circular room he found himself in.

He was pretty sure the box was rectangular, and far smaller than that.

Kurt jolted as a thought that wasn't his own – or was it? - ran through his mind.

_It's bigger on the inside. _

The fobwatch warmed, and Kurt looked at it.

_Open me, you human fool, _it whispered.

Kurt removed it from his pocket and turned it around, staring at the circles on the back.

They made sense, now.

_Lock the door._

Kurt found himself obeying, turning around on his heel and turning the knob around, a click resounding through the whole room.

_Open me._

Kurt did.

X

The Doctor stopped in his tracks, looked back at where he had left the Tardis, and ran.

Confused, Martha and Jack followed.

X

The fobwatch fell from the Master's hands onto the floor. A grin curled at the Master's lips and his eyes sparkled wildly.

He didn't need the Tardis, he decided, looking around. It was the perfect century to cause chaos in, anyway. He had a respectable reputation as a Professor. He could make it.

He would make it.

The Master left the Tardis with the door wide open, the fobwatch in his hand and a skip in his step.

When the Doctor reached the Tardis, it was too late. The only thing he found was residual energy.

X

The Master was back.

Here come the drums.

x


End file.
